There are numerous devices, applications and situations in which a user may view an object through a transparent medium. For example, cell phones, computer displays, televisions and appliances can employ a display having a transparent medium through which displayed information or a picture can be viewed. In similar fashion, windows, windshields, glass for covering photographs and other artwork, aquariums, and the like can also involve viewing an object through a transparent medium.
Common problems can arise when viewing an object through a transparent medium including glare and optical distortion. Glare is generally the specular reflection of ambient light on a viewer side of a transparent medium from one or more surfaces of the transparent medium. Glare travels an optical path extending from the source of the ambient light to the surface of the transparent medium and then to the viewer with the angle of incidence being substantially the same as the angle of reflection. Light from an object, on the other hand travels from the object through the transparent medium to the viewer. Glare makes it difficult to view an object through the transparent medium when the optical paths of the glare and object substantially overlap in the region between the transparent medium and viewer.
Conventional anti-glare surfaces are applied to the viewer-side surface of the transparent medium to avoid or reduce glare. Such surfaces are utilized to scatter reflected light over a certain angle. Conventional methods have also been attempted to create transparent light sources such as backlights for transparent liquid crystal displays or other applications. These methods, however, fail to adequately address scattering and other optical effects through a transparent medium with one or more light sources, e.g., the environment and a backlight or other input signals. Thus, there is a need in the industry to provide a method and device for transparent light sources such as a transparent diffuser.